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Energy and services group ENGIE completes Smart acquisition

Leeds-based Smart Buildings Limited, a company that specialises in smart buildings solutions has been acquired by ENGIE, the leading energy, services and regeneration group. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will provide a step change in ENGIE’s smart buildings capabilities and will significantly enhance the solutions the company is able to offer customers.

ENGIE has a strong heritage in facilities management, energy and energy services. The company will now be able to combine this with Smart Buildings Limited’s expertise in developing ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) technology and integration of devices to give customers an improved building management experience.

The ‘Single Pane of Glass’ dashboard, which was developed in-house, cleverly uses the building data to provide an interactive experience for all types of people occupying the building. With security and privacy at the forefront of the design, some of the features include entry to the building, booking of meeting rooms, desks and full agile working, temporary access for visitors and the announcement they have arrived, via Host notification. Enabled location-based services, through Smart-PLACE, connects people to the building and guides them around, enabling access and information to the enabled assets all from mobile device.

Nicola Lovett, CEO of ENGIE’s Business Energy & Services division, commented: “This acquisition is the next step in achieving our goal of being a key player in the smart buildings market. We recognise that FM & energy markets are changing, and we are committed to being at the forefront of those changes.

“By combining the cutting-edge technology that Smart Buildings Limited has developed, with our strength in FM & energy, we will be able to add even greater value for our customers in helping them to improve their performance, optimise their workplaces and increase employee wellbeing,” she continued.

CEO of Smart Buildings Ltd, Mark Davenport added: “Our philosophy is to innovate by leading through IoT technology, and to integrate by normalising every device that can communicate, thereby empowering users to interact and control their worlds. Becoming part of ENGIE will take full advantage of the synergies between our organisations and create many more opportunities to deploy our smart buildings services.”

Smart Buildings Ltd has already achieved wide recognition for its innovation, working closely with clients such as Barclays Bank, Lookers and JCT600 to introduce smart technologies to their businesses. An award-winning partnership with Barclays Bank has seen Smart Buildings Ltd working closely with the Barclays engineering team to develop a bespoke ‘software-as-a-service’ (SaaS) application. This interacts with building equipment to give improved central visibility of the systems in Barclays’ property portfolio through a fully interactive platform.

Legal advice to the selling shareholders was provided by Lupton Fawcett, led by corporate partner Giles Clegg who commented,

‘The management team at Smart Buildings has created and grown an innovative IT business based in Yorkshire. I am really pleased that they have realised the value of their hard work and that the Lupton Fawcett team have been able to support them through the process.’

Corporate Finance advice to the shareholders was provided by Ford Campbell Freedman, led by partner Dale Coleman who commented,

‘We have acted for Smart Buildings since its incorporation in 2012 and seen it grow and develop into its current market leading position. We are delighted that the founders have realised their investment in the company and that we were able to assist them through the sale.’

This acquisition supports ENGIE’s goal of achieving 50% of its UK revenues from business which combines energy and services activities by 2020.

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